1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device.
2. Discussion of the Background
The advent of a today's information-oriented society has led to an increasing importance of electronic display devices. For example, various types of the electronic display devices are used in a wide variety of industrial applications. Additionally, there is a trend toward slim, lightweight display devices that implement low-voltage, low-power consumption electronics. Flat-panel display (FPD) devices are well-suited to these applications since they may be relatively small and light weight and may use low driving voltage with low power consumption.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are a widely used type of FPD. An LCD includes two display panels with field-generating electrodes that include pixel electrodes and a common electrode with a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two display panels. The electric field formed by applying voltages to the electrodes aligns the liquid crystal molecules to control the polarization of light passing through the liquid crystal layer. Ultimately, an exit polarizing sheet may transmit light having a narrow range of polarizations, and, in this way, the LCD may display an image.
However, an LCD may have a low viewing angle, e.g., one-tenth of the display's contrast ratio, as compared to a self-emissive display panel. To compensate for the LCD's limited viewing angle, a vertically aligned (VA) mode LCD panel may be configured into one of the following display types: (a) a patterned VA (PVA) mode LCD panel having cutout patterns on upper and lower panel electrodes, (b) a multi-domain VA (MVA) mode LCD panel having protrusion patterns on upper and lower panel electrodes, or (c) a mixed VA mode LCD panel having a cutout pattern on a lower panel electrode and a protrusion pattern on an upper panel electrode.
These LCDs may have color sensitivity variations along different viewing angles (i.e., viewing directions) because red, green, and blue colors produced by pixels may have different gamma grayscale variations according to the viewing direction. Thus, when the respective colors are combined to produce one color, they may differ in color sensitivity according to the viewing direction.
To solve this problem, a pixel electrode may be divided into a main pixel electrode and sub-pixel electrodes for different grayscales. To apply different pixel voltages, switching elements may be connected to the main pixel electrode and the sub-pixel electrodes, or a separate capacitor may be provided between the switching elements and the sub-pixel electrodes. An efficient implementation of this configuration where different voltages are applied to the main pixel electrode and the sub-pixel electrodes is desired.